Candy has inherited a fortune from an Indian he helped. He quits his job on the Ponderosa and becomes a vice president for a land promotor who is selling beautiful, fertile land. When it is discovered that the
land promotor is selling barren desert land, Candy and the Cartwrights set out to expose the land promotor as a fraud.

Trivia: Walter Brooke as Mr. Perry, the President of the Beulah Land Corporation, in this
episode, previously seen in six's, "A Dime's Worth Of Glory", nine's, "Stage
Door Johnnies", and in twelve's, "The Luck Of Pepper Shannon".

Stunt Trivia: In act one, Candy rides in the front yard with the suitcase of money like a loco boy. Ray Mazy doubled David Canary and did the backflip off the horse, too.

Stunt Trivia: In act three, in a filmed cut at Griffith Park,
you see Hoss, Joe, and Candy riding fast and hard up the mountain slope
on their horses. In reality, Hal Burton is doubling as Joe, Ray Mazy as
Candy, and Bill Clark as Hoss.

Location Scenes Filmed at:Griffith Park, Southern California, with September 1967 stock footage of Hoss, Joe and Candy at Spooner Lake, Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The inclusion of June 1960 stock footage at Lake Los Angeles is seen later in the story.

Ben knows that Amy Wilder, who is fiercely protective of wildlife on her property is eccentric, not senile, and must convince a judge of that when a competency hearing is ordered by a scheming land owner.

Trivia: The late Jo Van Fleet as Amy, in this episode, is a
must-see! Jo would later play Ms. Helen Dobbs, in twelve's, "The Stillness
Within". Actor John Crawford, whose talents have been overlooked, makes his
only Bonanza appearance, still remembered as High Comissioner Ferris, in
Star Trek's, "The Galileo Seven". And Donald Moffat makes his first
appearance, this time as the Judge. He is later seen in thirteen's, "Face
Of Fear", and in Little House's, "Be My Friend".

Trivia: Mariette Hartley makes a return
appearance, previously seen in six's, "Right Is The Fourth R", ten's, "The
Survivors", and later in thirteen's, "The Iron Butterfly". Roy Engel in a later and perhaps his last appearance as the
Doctor, this time as Doc Thomas. Jon Lormer makes another
appearance, previously seen in nine's, "The Thirteenth Man". Vaughn Taylor
makes another appearance, previously seen in nine's, "Judgement At
Olympus", as Eggers, the drunk.

Trivia: Teen star David Cassidy makes his only appearance
along with the magnificent, Mercedes McCambridge, who we saw in
three's, "The Lady From Baltimore". Harlan Warde makes another appearance, previously seen in
ten's, "A World Full Of Cannibals", as a governmental figure, in a similar
role, as an attorney, in this episode.

Stunt Trivia: Billings (Charles Maxwell) knows that Ben is onto his scheme, so he abducts a woman departing from the stage and forces her to drive a buckboard down the street so he can escape. Candy (David Canary) is atop a wagon on the side of the street, loading the supplies and sees what is occuring.

Ray Mazy doubles David Canary when he jumps onto the floor of the buckboard with Hal Burton doubling Charles Maxwell. The two do their best to keep their faces away from the cameras, but you can spot them. They turn down the street and Mazy gets control and they both fall off and hit the ground! Burton gets up and takes a swing at Mazy, who does a block and punch that sends Burton to the ground in the final shot of this wild and dangerous stunt.

Trivia: Walter Barnes makes his second appearance, as the
slick Chicago meat packer. Anthony Colti makes his first as a
gunman, later seen in thirteen's, "Bushwhacked!", and twelve's "The Imposters". Mark
Tapscott makes another appearance, as a rancher friend of Ben's, who we
first saw as Mr. Sabin, in ten's, "Sound Of Drums". Arthur Peterson makes
another appearance, this time, as the banker.

Stunt Trivia: Hal Burton doubles Joe on horseback as he rides up to Ben and Hoss at Franklin Lake in this episode's teaser. Michael Landon does his filmed close-up shot where he dismounts from the Paint horse and starts conversing with Pa and Hoss.

Location Scenes Filmed at:Franklin Lake, Santa Monica Mountains and the cattle drive shots with Ben and the Ponderosa hands was culled from eight's "A Woman in the House" that is seen in the teaser and in act four, along with various stock shots from Paramount's film library. Later in the story, the riding shots of Ben on the trail (between Franklin Lake shots) was June 1962 stock footage filmed at Gooseneck Reservior and June 1962 stock footage filmed at the lush and beautiful Gooseneck Meadow at Truckee. Note: The teaser also includes a few cattle shots that were filmed at Onyx in June of 1964.

Trivia: The tall, blonde, Sally Kellerman makes her second
appearance, this time as Lotta Crabtree, a striking contrast, compared to
Yvonne De Carlo's "Lotta" in the season one pilot episode, over a decade
ago. Sally was previously in seven's, "A Dollar's Worth Of Trouble", as
Kathleen. William Bryant makes another appearance, this time as Lotta's
manager. David McLean makes his second appearance on the series as Marshal Steve Fallon. He was previously in ten's "Emily" as Marshal Calhoun and later in fourteen's "The Witness" as Sheriff Touhy.

Music Trivia: Sally Kellerman sings "How Can I Leave You?" and "Jim Along Rosy" in this episode. The lyrics were written by Joe Lubin and musical score by Harry Sukman and his orchestra.

Trivia: Bruce Dern makes his second and last appearance, previously
seen in nine's, "The Trackers", as Kully Mako, and Tony de Costa, as the
young Mexican boy, who later is seen in thirteen's, "The Customs of the Country".

Ben and Joe stop in Los Robles for a couple of beers and a night's
rest. Ben sees the town boss, John Walker, bullying the saloon waitress, and
he comes to her defense. When Ben steps outside of the saloon, Walker
shoots him in the back. Badly wounded, Ben shoots back, killing Walker just
before he falls unconscious. While Joe keeps a vigil at Ben's bedside, the
priest tells him Los Robles had always been ruled unquestionably by John
Walker and his son Jed. Now Jed will certainly want revenge. Sure
enough, he tells Joe if he doesn't hand Ben over in 24 hours, he will
kill every citizen in Los Robles, one an hour.

To complicate matters
more, Walker's foreman, Garth, deliberately tells Jed that Ben shot his
father in the back, in hopes that Joe will kill Walker, so he can run the
Walker ranch. When Joe tries to mobilize a few citizens to fight Walker
and his army of men, he finds a town full of cowards. The biggest coward
of all is the doctor. He purposely left the bullet in Ben's back, hoping
that he'd die within 24 hours. Jed and Garth make final plans to blow up
Los Robles with dynamite, unless Joe surrenders Ben to him.

Trivia: Joe De Santis as Padre Xavier, previously seen in
two's, "The Rival", three's, "Look To The Stars", and in nine's, "Second
Chance". Character actor William H. Bassett makes his only appearance on the
series as the evil Jed Walker, who has other plans for Ben and Joe. Michael remembered him some 12 years later in 1982, and cast him as Mr.
Turner, one of the class teachers in high school, while making his
motion picture "Sam's Son", based on his childhood youth, which was
aired by NBC on August 17th, 1984.

The huge Ted Cassidy as Garth, best remembered as
Lurch, in the 60's hit, "The Addams Family". Lee de Broux makes his first appearance on Bonanza, as one of the
gunmen, later seen in thirteen's, "Warbonnet", as Elias, and as Krater, in
fourteen's, "Forever". Rico Alaniz makes his final appearance on the series, this time
as Ricardo, the bartender. He was previously in six's "A Knight to
Remember" as a bandit, in five's "The Companeros" as Pacheco, and in
four's "The Deadly Ones" as a Miguel.

Trivia: The same Mexican Street used in Dortort's, "The High Chaparral", was used in this episode. It was previously seen in earlier
episodes; season three's, "The Gamble", four's, "A Stranger Passed This
Way", eight's, "Black Friday", and in season ten's, "The Clarion". The Mexican Street was located off
the Western Street, at Paramount Studios, in Hollywood, Ca.

Hoss is talked into dressing up as the Easter Bunny by a Quaker woman who runs an orphanage. There are many funny scenes in this episode including Hoss dressed in his bunny suit, thowing eggs at the inept outlaws that are trying to rob the Wells Fargo coach.

Trivia: Guest stars Len Lesser, Vic Tayback (of TV's "Alice"), do a wonderful job in this episode, and James Jeter makes yet another
appearance on Bonanza, also seen in season five's, "A Question Of Strength", season ten's, "Sweet Annie Laurie" and "The Clarion", and later in, twelve's, "Terror At 2:00", and as the stagedriver, in thirteen's, "The Younger Brother's Younger Brother", and as the storekeeper in fourteen's, "Forever". Vic Tayback makes his only appearance as one of the confidence
men, also seen in the classic Star Trek episode, "A Piece Of the
Action", as gangster Jojo Krako, and Len Lesser as his partner, later seen
in fourteen's, "Heritage Of Anger".

Stunt Trivia: Bill Clark doubles Hoss in the scene where he rides the stunt horse down the steep hillside in the bunny suit. Dan Blocker's dialogue for this brief scene is voiced over in the studio.

In this second episode to feature Meena Calhoun and her father, Hoss and Joe's plans to sell horses from the livery stables in town is
thwarted. Virgil and his two brothers also go into the livery business which creates troubles for Hoss and Joe.

Trivia: Ann Prentiss and Dub Taylor return, along with Victor French
and Robert Donner, in this second installment. Lou Frizzell makes his debut as Dusty Rhoades, since
negotiations with NBC and David Canary (Candy), were failing, and Canary
quit, due to a contract dispute. Frizzell would later return in season
twelve, as Dusty, along with Mitch Vogel, as Jamie Hunter, replacing the gap
Canary left.

Trivia: John Harmon makes his last appearance on "Bonanza", he was
previously seen in four's, "A Hot Day For A Hanging", "The Last
Haircut", two's, "Cutthroat Junction", and in one's, "The Hanging Posse". He
also was seen in two classic episodes of the classic Star Trek
series, "The City On The Edge Of Forever", and "A Piece Of The Action".

360.) What Are Pardners For?
April 12, 1970
Written by: Jack B. Sowards Directed by: William F. Claxton Lost Episode

Hoss meets up with two inept easterners who have come West to become bank robbers, after reading about the wild west in books. Hoss becomes inadvertantly involved in their adventures and some funny moments follow.

Trivia: Slim Pickens makes another appearance, this time as the
Sheriff, along with Dabbs Greer, this time as the Judge, Richard Evans, who
was in seven's, "The Other Son", eight's, "Dark Enough To See The
Stars", and John Beck makes his second appearance, previously seen in this
season's, "The Medal". Tol Avery makes a last appearance, previously seen
in five's, "Ponderosa Matador", nine's, "Justice Deferred", and "Trouble
Town".

361.) A Matter Of Circumstance
April 19, 1970
Written by: B.W. Sandefur Directed by: William F. Claxton Lost Episode

Joe is left alone at the Ponderosa, as Ben, Hoss and Candy are leaving on a cattle drive, awaiting the chuck-wagon cook and his
son. During a freak thunderstorm, Joe is trying to settle down a spooked horse, and ends up being trampled, his left arm and leg broken. Joe struggles to keep conscious and treat his wounds. Despite his best efforts, his left arm becomes infected and Joe in desperation, considers
amputating it, fearing gangrene has set in. Visually creative and stunning directing by William F. Claxton, making look like what it is like "seeing" from Joe's eyes inside and outside
the Ponderosa. Last appearance of Candy until September of 1972 in "Forever".

Trivia: Ted Gehring makes another appearance, this time as
the cook and with him, a young Vincent Van Patten, later seen in
fourteen's, "Stallion". Harry Holcombe makes another appearance as the Doc.

Trivia: While digitally remastering the original sound track for syndication in 1988, NBC had a very unearthly scream by Michael muted out
of the soundtrack, which is when Joe is trampled by the spooked horse in
the barn, during the lightning storm. On both US versions from Family
Channel and Goodlife TV Network, you see Joe scream, but do not hear
it, thanks to NBC.

Trivia: This episode marks the last appearance of David Canary as Candy. He quit because of a contract dispute with NBC. Canary made considerably less than the other three, so he asked for a raise and they wouldn't give it to him. He left with no hard feelings and gave it a try at writing and producing, a move that he regretted. Just prior to Dan Blocker's surgery, he was asked to return by Michael and David, at full salary. In fact, Mike already had him in his "Forever" story, when he wrote it in early May of 1972.